In
Uttar Pradesh, cops fire to win awards

The
high number of encounters in Uttar Pradesh in recent days has raised an
eye-brow with opposition parties calling it planned murders

Uttar Pradesh under ‘Yogi’ Adityanath resembles the wild wild
west, rather than a scene of calmness usually associated with ascetics. The
police records are an eye opener; it speaks volumes about the penchant of
policemen to kill in fake encounters.

In the last 10 months (up to February 3) 1,143 encounters took
place in Uttar Pradesh in which 38 top criminals were killed and 298 others
were injured and around 3,000 criminals were arrested. Besides, the police have
imposed National Security Act (NSA) against 167 criminals and seized assets
worth nearly ₹150 crores in this period. Four police officials have also been
killed and 257 others injured during these encounters.

In the most recent shoot-out, four young men who were returning
from a wedding reception on February 3 were stopped by a trainee police
inspector Vijay Darshan at a busy crossing in Noida at 10.30 pm. They were told
that their crime was playing loud music in their SUV. The police opened fire at
Jitendra Yadav, 25, a gym owner, who was at the wheel and received a bullet
injury on his neck. His condition is still unstable.

The three others who were in the car said that the inspector had
threatened them with “encounter” because killing them would give him an
out-of-turn promotion. In the FIR Dharmendra Yadav, who was in the car, wrote
that Inspector used the word “encounter” and “out of turn promotion” when he
opened fire. The police, in a jiffy, suspended the erring inspector.

“Such behaviour from a police officer is unacceptable,” says
Love Kumar, Superintendent of Gautambudh Nagar. But, the message is that the
recent encounters in the name of controlling crime are nothing but cold-blooded
murders where trigger-happy police officers have gunned down criminals just to
get promotion.

The National Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice S Rafat
Alam has sought a report from the Gautambudh Nagar SSP saying the report which
has appeared in a section of media seems to be a violation of human rights. In
his February 5 order, he asked the SSP to file report within 15 days.

Majority of these encounters have been reported from western
Uttar Pradesh with 449 such cases reported from Meerut zone followed by 210 in
Agra. Around 200 cases are reported Bareilly zone and 98 from Kanpur zone.

Such a high number of encounters has raised an eye-brow with
opposition parties calling it planned murders. Samajwadi Party spokesman
Rajendra Chaudhry said, “This seems to be a planned cleansing with an eye on
the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The police have become trigger happy because of
the award associated with the killings.”

The SP leader is not off the mark. The Yogi government has now
authorised the Director General of Police to declare an award of ₹2.5 lakh and
the district police chief can announce an award of ₹25,000 for any wanted
criminals. This has everyone wondering if the government had announced these
payments to allure policemen to kill people in the name of controlling crime.

Senior police officers such as HR Sharma defend police action
saying such efforts are necessary to control crime. The ADG (Law and Order)
Anand Kumar said that the police is targeting only those who are creating
problems. “We ask them (criminals) to surrender and if they open fire then the
police retaliates. In these firings, many cops have been injured too,” he said.

The police justification will not stand court scrutiny. In a
majority of the encounters where criminal has been killed, there is a clear
modus operandi. A criminal is arrested but he escapes from police custody.
After a few days, the police traces and kills him in an encounter. However, the
accomplice of the dreaded criminal always manages to escape.

This happened in Saharanpur too, where the police claimed to
have gunned down a wanted criminal Shamshad in an encounter. Three days before
this encounter in September 2017, Shamshad had absconded from police custody in
Gagalhedi area. The SSP announced an award of ₹12,000 after his escape. The
report says Shamshad sustained bullet injuries. One of his aides managed to
escape. The police claimed that Shamshad had threatened a local doctor Piyush
Sanawar and demanded ₹15 lakh. A similar pattern was followed in the case of
Sunila Sharma, for whose head an award of ₹15,000 was announced. He too fled
from police custody and was killed in an encounter in Gomti Nagar in Lucknow.

In Azamgarh, the police claimed to have gunned down a criminal
Sujeet Singh aka Budhwa, who had a cash reward of ₹50,000 on his death. Police
said that Budhwa escaped from police custody while being taken back to Rampur
district after being produced in a Mau court in connection with a robbery on
August 11. In this encounter the aides of Budhwa escaped. Police claimed that
Budhwa was injured in a gun battle with the police and on his way to hospital
the injured criminal confessed that he was involved in the heist of an SBI bank
in Mau, a bank robbery in Madiyaho (Jaunpur) and half-a-dozen other robberies.

Lenin Raghuvanshi of People’s Vigilance Committee of Human
Rights (PVCHR) says that such encounters damage the rule of law and criminal
justice system. “This also leads to politicisation of criminals as fearing
police action, they join the ruling party. They continue their criminal
activities under the patronage of local leaders,” he added.

These proceedings should be read in continuation of the
earlier proceedings of the Commission dated 24.10.2017. The substance of the
complaint dated 19.9.2017 by complainant Dr. Lenin Raghuvanshi from Varanasi
U.P. was that on 9.9.2017 a 35 year old victim was found dead due to
electrocution and the same was allegedly the outcome of gross negligence of
the Energy Department officials of the state. According to the complainant,
the deceased Nizamuddin @ Pintu was dusting his shop room at the relevant
time when the electric conductor fell on him. Thus the complainant sought the
intervention of the Commission for necessary action against the erring
official and compensation to the next of the kin of the deceased. The
complainant also relied on the news reports published in Dainik Jagran and
Hindustan. The Commission took cognizance of the matter and issued notice to
the Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Government of U.P. for his
response. In response to the same, a report dated 26.9.2017 with enclosures was
received from the Director, Personnel and Administration, U.P. Power
Corporation Ltd. It was intimated that the next of the kin of the deceased
was paid an amount of Rs. 5 Lakhs through Cheque No. 007436 dt. 18.12.2017.
Further, it was intimated that disciplinary actions were also taken against
the erring officials. The Commission carefully considered the contents of the
reply. On a perusal of the case record it was found that proof of payment of
the cheque of Punjab National Bank was enclosed. Since the concerned State
authorities paid an amount of Rs 5 Lacs as compensation to the next of the
kin of the deceased and necessary disciplinary action was taken against the
erring officials as per law. In the circumstances and with the above
observations, the matter required no further intervention of the Commission,
accordingly the case be closed with an intimation to the complainant.

Girl crushed to death by tractor during human chain formation in UP's Sonbhadra

HIGHLIGHTS

A girl student of class V was crushed to death by a tractor trolley in Hinduari area of UP's Sonbhadra district when she was going to take part in the human chain formed against open defecation.

While crossing the road she was overrun by a tractor-trolley and died on the spot.

(Representative image)

VARANASI: A girl student of class V was crushed to death by a tractor trolley inHinduari area of Sonbhadra districtwhen she was going to take part in the human chain formed against open defecation on Friday. Local residents blockedVaranasi-Shakti Nagar Roadin protest against the incident.According to reports, Anit (12), daughter of Sanjay Kumar and resident of Barvan village, had gone toHinduari in Robertsganj Kotwalipolice station area to join the human chain. While crossing the road she was overrun by a tractor-trolley and died on the spot.

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In protest against the incident the local resident blocked the road. The blockade was cleared after the intervention of police and administrative officials. The Sonbhadra district magistrate PK Upadhyaya said that the incident occurred due to carelessness of tractor driver. He said that appropriate action was being taken in this regard.